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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (1): 23-34.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.107

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Glacier changes and topographic factors of the Ulugh Muztagh from 1960 to 2023

LI Ruonan1,2,3(), LI Junli1,3(), LIU Shuaiqi1,2,3, DU Weibing4   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3 Key Laboratory of GIS & RS Application Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang, China
    4 College of Survey and Territory Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454003, Henan, China
  • Received:2025-03-01 Revised:2025-07-21 Online:2026-01-25 Published:2026-01-18
  • Contact: LI Junli E-mail:liruonan23@mails.ucas.ac.cn;lijl@ms.xjb.ac.cn

Abstract:

Changes to glaciers in the Ulugh Muztagh region significantly impact water resources in southern Xinjiang. This study extracted glacier area and terminus changes in Ulugh Muztagh region glaciers using multi-source remote sensing data from 1960 to 2023 and deep learning methods. Differences and driving factors were analyzed from the perspectives of glacier units and topographic features. The results show that (1) Overall, Ulugh Muztagh glaciers retreated from 1960 to 2023, with an average annual area loss of 0.83 km2·a-1 and a terminus retreat rate of 2.21 m·a-1. (2) In terms of intra-glacier regional differences, the retreat rate of glacier area was higher on south- and east-facing slopes and decreased with increasing elevation and slope. The terminus retreat rate was greater on east- and west-facing slopes (4.42 m·a-1 and 4.01 m·a-1, respectively) than on south- and north-facing slopes (1.63 m·a-1 and 1.45 m·a-1, respectively). (3) The spatial differences in glacier area and terminus changes in the Ulugh Muztagh region are mainly influenced by topography and climate. Sunny slopes receive more solar radiation, accelerating glacier melt, while lower elevations are prone to retreat due to rising temperatures. These findings provide a scientific basis for understanding the mechanisms by which alpine glaciers respond to climate change and offer important references for water resource management and ecological security assessment in southern Xinjiang.

Key words: glacier area, terminus retreat, spatiotemporal variations, topographic factors, climatic elements, Ulugh Muztagh